Avs/Blues Game 1 Grades: Captain leads the way

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B

Bellemare had a really solid game on the fourth line. Nothing fancy, just got the job done. Krug tried his best to Makar him at the blue line on the penalty kill in the second period, and Bellemare bought none of it, breaking up the play and getting an easy clear. Also a smart clear late to get off the ice for some fresh players, which happened to be Nate MacKinnon.

Andre Burakovsky – C+

Clearly Burky was told to shoot the puck, because he seemed to be doing that with frequency, it just wasn’t always on net. Had a great chance in the third on a rush and fired it wide, leading to a breakout for the Blues.

J.T. Compher – B

You could tell that on his late chance in front of the net in the third period, he really wanted to feed Newhook in front, and just waited a bit too long and had to let a shot go. Solid game from him otherwise.

Joonas Donskoi – C+

I know AJ really liked him, I felt like he looked pretty slow at times and got caught a lot with the puck on his stick. Did think he battled really hard along the boards to keep possession.

Sam Girard – B+

Really strong game from Girard. The Blues executed the odd-man rush perfectly on their goal, but other than that, thought he was great. The top three on the defense hard carried the rest of the defense in terms of moving the puck forward.

Ryan Graves – C

This is a tough one to grade. Without the puck on his stick, thought he was great. Obviously, the diving breakup of a certain goal was fantastic…but we all know why that play happened in the first place. The penalties were both good calls by the refs, even if he didn’t like them. Most of his puck problems came playing with Nemeth, and that’s the problem when they’re out there together.

Philipp Grubauer – B+

Got lucky with a post early in the game, and then looked calm, cool and collected the rest of the evening. The stand-up saves that he makes are when you know he’s really on his game. Solid start to the series.

Tyson Jost – A

Jost has never been great at creating shot attempts, and in Game 1, he ended with seven attempts. That’s huge for him. He was a pain most of the night for the Blues defenders, and Krug seemed to get really annoyed with him. That’s how he’s played the last three months and why this team has really settled in up front.

Nazem Kadri – C-

He deserves credit because through it all, he’s still battling defensively. That line gave up nothing defensively in terms of chances. It’s all puck management with him. His shots are taking a half-second too long to get off, and the toe drag that was easily broken up just prior to the Blues goal is something we’ve seen all too much of. The offense has just got to come around.

Gabriel Landeskog – A+

This was a Herculean performance from start to finish. He could sense his team didn’t have the hottest start, so he bashed in Schenn’s face and got things going. From there, he was a maniac on the boards, in the defensive zone, and in front of the net. Should have gotten all three stars.

Nathan MacKinnon – B

The first two periods, MacKinnon looked rusty. I don’t buy that he was hurt, as he still had moments of burst, particularly in the first period, but his hands were a little off. But the third period showed what is a big problem in this series for the Blues: The Avs have Nathan MacKinnon, and they don’t.

Cale Makar – A

Just an all-world play to get things going on the powerplay, leaving Tyler Bozak in the dust on his goal. He did it to O’Reilly in the second period as well, but his shot just didn’t make it through the traffic. Not sure anything bad happened with him out there.

Patrik Nemeth – C-

Holy puck disaster. The turnovers were apparent out there, and even his passes to his defensive partners were a mess. At least he was pretty physical out there, and in particular was effective on the penalty kill.

Alex Newhook – C

Great hustle on his first shift, but I hated the puck decision after that. He just launched it on front of the net to no one without looking and gave the Blues an easy breakout. Pretty limited in ice time the entire game, and late, Nichushkin got double shifted in his spot.

Valeri Nichushkin – A

Seeing Nuke with 10 shot attempts is kind of wild. A lot of them were softer shots that were easily gobbled up by Binnington, but they move the play forward and get fresh bodies out there. Led the Avs in shot attempts and shots on net at even strength on the same day he talks to the media. Keep talking to us, Nuke.

Mikko Rantanen – B

Mikko scored 30 goals for a reason. He’s going to start burying high-end chances eventually, it just wasn’t tonight. Clean face-off win on the Makar goal, and a perfect feed to MacKinnon on the winner. Things to clean up, but he still did work.

Brandon Saad – B

Nice to have him back, and the third line sure was effective all night long. Could have had himself a few goals, including a chance off the rush that Binnington stopped. Just a valuable add for the playoffs with his tendency to score goals in tight.

Conor Timmins – C

The pass across on the Blues goal got through pretty easily, unfortunately. He really did not play a lot. Had some smart, short breakout passes, but also had two glaring giveaways, including one right before the second Graves penalty.

Devon Toews – B

Toews had a really slow start. Tarasenko beat him wide, he let another guy behind him, and got bailed out by a post early. Then he just became the guy we’ve seen all year long, and in the third, seemed to be leading every single rush.